Going Part Time

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So today as I was beginning my final walk for the day I found an awesome table sitting on the side of the road.  With that table was a sign with that glorious word written on it:  FREE!  I am now the proud owner of a new, freegan acquired table to either use outside or refurbish and use in my living room – I still haven’t decided.

Also, before someone points out that we are now well into June and an updated Poop Report hasn’t gone up in weeks or Monthly summary hasn’t gone up for May let’s go ahead and summarize both:  It probably sucked and I probably didn’t make nearly enough.  How do I know?  Because I’m starting to feel the pinch.  However, just so I can more accurately depress myself I present to you….

May 2010 Monthly Summary

Otherwise Known as

The Poor Report

See what I did there?  Do you see?  I astound myself sometimes…

Okay so here is the breakdown of May expenses:

According to the simple ledger I cam out 117.19 ahead of normal expenses last month.  What isn’t accounted for on this list are two very large expenses that will work themselves out next month (and that I embarrassingly used plastic money to pay for during this period).  Those two things are the new puppy, which will be accounted like my rent next month.  He and my rent are both $600, but good news for him is I’m not paying rent next month!  The other expense category is my car.  I have had to sink a whooping $254 into the silly thing in excess of the usual due to both the car accident and the repairs it went in for.  If all goes well I’ll get $154 of those dollars back still keeping me in the black by $17.19.. if not I’ll dip by more then I’d like to think about.

There are the expenses… but how much came in?  Before celebrating let’s see what money there was in the accounts.  And that number would be… 1299.08 ?

1299.08?!  Crap…  So while expenses were lower overall I’m hemorrhaging money this month to the tune of 458.09.   Looks like I’ll need to talk to the P.A. client  about those other clients she wants me to talk to…

Over the last few weeks little has changed in the day-to-day operations of this part-timer. I’m still waking up and walking dogs for about 2-4 hours every morning. I’m still working as a P.A. for only one person. I’m still stressed out about finding a house and moving by the August 1st deadline. But now we have this to cuddle up to:

Granted the stress he brings is almost equivalent to the calm but it’s nice to have a licky little puppy running around the house to show Killian whose boss.

Unfortunately, we are not doing all that wonderfully overall.  Stress is at an all time high with the first house inspection going so poorly we had to back out of the deal, our landlord becoming petty and more difficult to deal with as we ride out the end of our rental agreement and the puppy waking up at 3AM to go potty.  Life is becoming a blur of phone calls to vet offices, pet owners, the client and real estate agents… so… tired…

Good things did happen though.  I finally got my car back.  After the accident repairs were completed Cho and I pulled into a gas station to fuel up from below the empty tank line.  And wouldn’t you know it?  The fuel door failed.  No Entry.  It was then I began thinking my car hates me.  So, it was decided that it needed to go into the shop for that and to stop the groaning noise that happened every time the car accelerated from a stop.  You know, bring back the car love.  For a mere $100 deductible the extended warranty I purchased a little over a year ago covered what would have cost me $2,500 in repairs.  Not too shabby.  Well… assuming that the repairs don’t go bad in the next few weeks and it needs to go back in for something not exactly the same but related.

Today we go back out for the third time this week to look at more houses.  Earlier this week the home of our dreams slipped through our fingers because we viewed it one day too late.  Someone else stepped in an made an offer 12 hours before we sent one in and they were accepted.  Our luck here is completely horrible folks.  Totally suck even.  I’m not sure what’s worse – not finding the right home, the prospect of having to move in with a relative for a few months while we diligently keep the search going or the fact that everyone is telling us to stay positive.  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but the positive has just about left the building.  Telling us to stay positive is just making things seem even more hopeless.  ;;sigh;;

The only other semi-good news to report is that the current P.A. client is starting to ask me if I want more clients.  It’s insane to think that I might actually be able to tell the “boss” her business is run like crap and that I no longer want to deal with the puggle that bites joggers or the havenese that enjoys sniffing every last little puddle of bird poo…  Insane to think that I actually need a bigger desk and some home office equipment.  Heh.

So the number totals are:

Estimated Income Wednesday to Friday:   $360.00          Hours Worked:   30

8:00AM – Wake up and check email. Resolve two problems, ask PA client if she can confirm something. Follow up with real estate lawyer and copy the real estate agent to get input on home inspection results.

9:00AM – Email back from real estate agent says we have until 2PM to make a decision. What! Can’t make a decision yet, we don’t have a quote from a contractor. That happens tomorrow.

10AM – Take a shower and call the “boss” I need my keys back. She has the keys, but not the dogs… she’ll call back later when she has them.

10:30AM -Phone with the mortgage lender. She’s now suggesting a 403(k) loan. How did my dream house in good, move in condition turn into a rehab so quickly?

11AM – At the PA clients home… my iPhone is acting strangely. Once it kicks back on I’m able to get in touch with the most helpful doctor’s office receptionist on the planet. Have documents faxed and actions taken. Also realize the last PA did an absolutely horrible job on organizing the filing cabinet.

12AM – still no word from the “boss” so I call back. 2 hours behind schedule she tells me to meet her in 20 minutes, her place, for the dogs.

12:30PM – Still no sign of the “boss”. On the phone again trying to hammer out details regarding my additional car warranty. I need to bring in because the groaning noise on acceleration is getting worse, the fuel cable snapped and the cooling fan stays on for a scary long time. Find out that I need to get it diagnosed first – that comes later!

1PM – Yay! I have the dogs in my possession. Get them home and walked and watered and off to Prime Honda on the VFW for some diagnosing.

2PM – So they can’t really do it very quickly. Phone starts ringing uncontrollably. While I’m trying to negotiate the drop off and the loaner car I’m fielding questions about IVF, dogs who need night walks and home inspections! Gah! Bonus moment: Prime gave me a free loaner car while they do the diagnostic. Phew – one less thing to worry about.

3PM – Take the loaner Accord to the grocery store. While I’m grabbing the Silk milk I realize I haven’t eaten anything all day long. Just as I come to this realization the phone rings again. Looks like the landlord needs me to be home at 5:30 to give an apartment tour. Sure! Why not?!

3:30PM – Call the insurance company of the woman who hit me two weeks ago. Get transferred around a bit and then sent to voicemail! Looks like she leaves work at 3:15.. 3:15?!! WTF…  Next Day Update: Called back by this woman by the way.  Seems like the person who smashed into me says hat they were sitting in a line of stopped cars when I smashed into them.  Yup.  Still hate Mattapan.

4PM -  Wash dishes, sweep up, spray down the counters and viola!  Half hour later – clean enough to show.

4:30PM – RUN to the clients house, walk the dogs, get stuck in a little traffic and WHOOSH back home.

5PM – Talk to National Grid.  They won’t do the whole gas conversion, they’ll just bring the gas pipe from the street to the house. It would cost at least $1,200.  On top of that, they can’t guarantee that we’d be allowed to because the town has a rule about repaved streets staying untouched for 5 years.

5:30PM – We are experiencing and odd lack of potential tenants visiting the apartment.  I bring Killian outside and watch them drive by though. Guess they weren’t interested.

6PM – Spend the rest of the day doing as little as possible.  WoW was a deserved pleasure this evening.

Estimated Income Wednesday to Tuesday:   $265.00          Hours Worked:   20ish?